Accurately determining the location of a source of data transmitted over a network may be useful in many situations. For example, determining the source of a 911 call is critical for emergency workers to respond effectively. In this regard, traditional circuit switched telephone networks are deterministic in that the path and delay of information over the network is known, and as a result, the source of the call may be determined. However, for a VoIP phone, determining the source of a 911 call with sufficient accuracy is difficult if not impossible, using conventional technology. In this regard, obtaining accurate proximity information in non-deterministic packet switched networks (PSN), such as the Internet, is difficult due to variable delays caused by factors such as operating system of a traversed network node, network congestion, routing path, for example. One method conventionally used to determine proximity of nodes in a network is time-domain reflectometry (TDR). However, if there are no discontinuities in the physical links, or the connections are very well matched, then TDR does not provide a very accurate measurement. Accordingly, conventional methods for determining the location of a source of a packet provide insufficient proximity accuracy for many applications.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.